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Are Local Democrats About to Raise Your Taxes? · ToddCast Podcast with Todd Starnes

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: From the principal Toyota studios, it's Morning in Memphis with
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Todd Starnes.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: And it is so good to be back with you guys.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Hello, everybody.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Welcome. Welcome back to the Mighty 990. It is 55
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: degrees at Memphis International Airport. I just returned from. I
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: got back into the Bluff City in the wee hours
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: of the morning, and it is great to be back
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: home after spending 10 days on the road promoting the
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: book and doing some big book engagements. And I want
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: to thank all you guys. for the kind words and
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: notes that you share with me along the way over
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: the past 10 days. But I am staying put for
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: at least a little while. And we have got a
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: lot going on today, a very busy day across the Mid-South.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, there is a huge gathering
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: of elected officials in Collierville today. A number of congressmen,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: congresswomen from around the nation gathering today. to be with
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: our Congressman David Kustoff as he is holding a field hearing.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: We're going to talk to the Congressman a little bit
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: later on. He'll be calling into the show in just
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: a few moments. Also, Steve Gill is here to weigh
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: in on politics across the Mid-South and the state of Tennessee.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: as the 9th congressional district race and the 5th district
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: race are now becoming huge national races. Democrats are pouring
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: millions and millions of dollars into the congressional campaign of
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Justin Pearson. They think they've got a chance to knock
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: off Senator, State Senator Brent Taylor in that newly redrawn district.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: So we're going to be touching base with Steve Gill
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: to get his take on that. Also, the contentious gubernatorial race,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: and there is growing concern on the Republican side of
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: the aisle about the campaign of David Hantley, who is
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: the independent running.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Mr.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Hantley, an incredibly successful millionaire, a businessman from East Tennessee
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: who He had a few problems in the early years
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: of his life, back in the 1990s. And by that,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: I mean he's a convicted felon who just got his
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: voting rights restored. And the Blackburn campaign is making a
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: lot of political hay about that. out on the campaign trail.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: That being said, that was, what, 35, almost 40 years ago.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: And since then, David Hatley has become an upstanding businessman
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: who employs many, many, many Tennesseans in his company. So
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: the question is, Will he draw enough votes away from
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Marsha Blackburn to allow Jerry Green to take the governorship?
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: That's ultimately the big question here. There's doubt that Hadley
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: could win outright, but he could prevent Marsha Blackburn from winning.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: So we'll get into all of that with Steve Gill
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: in just a few moments. You know, one of the
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: things I, one of the stories that caught my attention
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: as we were getting ready for this show, this dire
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: warning that came from the Shelby County, the brand-new Shelby
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: County Assessor of Property, Javier Bailey Sr. And he spoke
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: at a press conference last week and laid all of
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: this out. And there are a lot of news nuggets
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: that were not covered by the local media that we
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: need to be really concerned about because the bottom line here,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: this whole press conference thing, And it was called the
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: State of the County Tax Base. The whole point of
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: that press conference and this summit that he wants to
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: hold is to raise, eventually raise our taxes. I mean,
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: that's where all of this is heading, bottom line. But
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: I appreciate Mr. Bailey at least coming out and acknowledging,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: holy cow, we got a problem. It turns out all
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: of those beautiful high rises that are in downtown, most
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: of them are are empty. They're vacant. And when you
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: go downtown, and somebody posted this on our KWAM Facebook
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: page just the other day. They said they decided to
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: pretend they were a tourist, and they went downtown. They
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: wanted to walk around, and they were just stunned at
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: how few people there were. It was literally a ghost town.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: And I've done the same thing after sometimes after the
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: national show. I'll just drive downtown and walk around, maybe
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: grab a meal at a restaurant down there. And there's
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: hardly anybody on the streets of downtown Memphis, which is
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: a big problem because that is also one of the
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: big tourist draws. So the assessor said that the vacancy
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  Speaker 2: rate is right now at about 16.7%. Overall, and in
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Class B properties, about 17.4%. That's a big, big problem.
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  Speaker 2: And we're talking about towers like the Raymond James Tower
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  Speaker 2: and 100 North Main. And Mr. Bailey said the skyline
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: for Shelby County has gone dark. By the way, it's
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: also bad on the hotel side where he said a
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  Speaker 2: lot of hotels are shutting down, and that's another big problem.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: But it's also a bigger problem for you, the taxpayers,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: because taxpayers of Memphis and Shelby County, guess what? You
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: own the dilapidated Sheridan Hotel that City Hall decided to purchase.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: with $ 22 million of your tax money. So just a
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: heads up here, I don't want you to be surprised
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  Speaker 2: when all of these Democrats who rule Memphis come back
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  Speaker 2: to you and say, we're going to have to raise
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: your property taxes again. Because that very well could happen.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: By the way, Mr. Bailey said one of the other
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  Speaker 2: big factors here was the relocation of Memphis in May.
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  Speaker 2: And that caused millions and millions of dollars to be
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: siphoned away from downtown and into other parts of the city.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: But he said, and I want to read this from
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  Speaker 2: the Daily Memphian piece, a hiatus and restructuring of the
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Beale Street Music Festival is and the relocation of the
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest stripped millions of dollars in
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: direct tourist spending from downtown. Also, FedEx Forum attendances down
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: and the Church of God in Christ, they took their
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: convention and they left town. So there you have it.
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  Speaker 2: It's I mean, it's I hate to say this is
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: sort of a dire picture, but at least that is,
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  Speaker 2: in fact, the reality. And that, by the way, is
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: the reason. And I know a lot of the restaurant
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  Speaker 2: owners are, you know, they lean to the left just
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: a smidge. OK, more than a smidge. But the reality
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: is that they don't they don't want to admit why
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  Speaker 2: they're really having to shut down their businesses. And it's
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: because they're crying. I mean, that's it in a nutshell.
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  Speaker 3: All right.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: We have got a lot coming up. Again, Congressman David
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Kostoff on the way. It's National Taco Day. Are you
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: a hard shell or a soft shell taco fan?
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: 901-260-5926.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Our telephone number, that's 901-260-5926. Also, a chance for you
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: to win a copy of my brand-new book, The Golden Age,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: How Trump Saved America. Our telephone number, 901-260-5926. Let's check
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: in with Commander Chuck. All right, it is 56 degrees
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: at White Station High School. Hello, everybody. I'm Todd Stearns,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: and you are listening to the Mighty 990 KWAM. By
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: the way, a couple of quick notes here. Free jazz
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: festival this weekend. This is the inaugural Memphis Jazz Fest.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: It's all going to happen downtown. The festival goes through
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Sunday with Sunset Jazz at Court Square Park from 3
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: until 7. Folks, you're going to hear some incredible music
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: there on the Main Street Mall. So be sure to
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: get out this weekend and enjoy the Memphis Jazz Festival.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: All you Christian music fans, Elevation Worship and Pastor Stephen
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Furtick are coming to the FedEx Forum Saturday. The Christian
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: worship event starts at 7 o'clock that evening. Tickets are
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: listed on sale, so you are able to get tickets.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: All you have to do is go to FedExForum's website,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: and you'll see all the information there. Our telephone number, 901-260-5926.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: That's 901-260-5926. By the way, a lot of lawmakers in
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: the Mid-South for a field hearing on the one big
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: beautiful bill and how it's impacted business. Congressman Jason Smith,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Congressman Ron Estes, Carol Miller, Beth Van Dyne, Nicole Malliotakis,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: and Nathan Moran joining our own Congressman David Gustaf. in
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Collierville later this morning for a big event. I want
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: to go right away to our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: and say hello to our good friend. He is a
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: publisher of TriStar Daily, Steve Gill. Steve, in a second,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: we're going to ask you about National Taco Day, whether
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: you're a soft-shell or hard-shell guy. But first, we've got
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: to talk politics, and there is a lot. First of all,
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: I don't know if we've ever had that many members
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: of Congress here in the.
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  Speaker 1: And with a good topic, and one that the administration
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: and Congress really needs to be talking about. The good
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: thing about the big, beautiful bill is it put in
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: massive tax cuts, kept the Democrats from increasing taxes, and
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: did give relief to seniors. It gave relief to folks
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: who earned their money through tips. It gave relief to those.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: who work overtime. But there is still meat on the bone.
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  Speaker 1: They didn't completely remove those taxes on tips and overtime
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: and Social Security. So I think that the fact that
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: they're traveling and making the point known, here's what we did,
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  Speaker 1: but here's what's left to do, And if we don't
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  Speaker 1: keep a majority in the House and Senate, it won't
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: get done.
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  Speaker 2: And that's the that's the big issue here in Tennessee,
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  Speaker 2: where now the Democrats are targeting two districts of the fifth,
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  Speaker 2: which is where Charlie Hatcher and Chas Mulder are going
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  Speaker 2: at it, going at it. And also the ninth, Justin
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  Speaker 2: Pearson and Brent Taylor. I'm just, from my vantage point, Steve,
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  Speaker 2: it just seems to me that the Democrats, even though
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: they may not have the numbers, at least right now
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  Speaker 2: it seems to me they've got momentum here in Tennessee.
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  Speaker 2: Am I off base there?
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: No, and what we see in, you know, it's football season,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: but we see the shift in momentum in college football games,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: whether it's the Memphis Tigers, whether it's the Tennessee Vols,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: whether it's, you know, Ole Miss Rebels, there is a
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: momentum shift within a game. And you've got to take
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: care to not only stop that momentum when it runs
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  Speaker 1: against you, but turn it around and get your own.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that one of the reasons you're seeing
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  Speaker 1: groups like this group of congressmen come to Tennessee, like
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: you have President Trump that was in Knoxville a week
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: or so ago. There are rumors he may be back
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: again soon up in the Clarksville area. I think they
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: realize that they've got to get President Trump out to
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: inspire some momentum among Republican voters, because when he's not
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: on the ballot, as you and I have talked before—
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: MAGA voters, Trump voters tend to stay home if he's
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: not on the ballot, which is why he's emphasizing my
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: name may not be on the ballot, but my policies,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: what is needed to keep us moving forward economically and
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: otherwise is on the ballot. And we have to turn
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: out to make sure that the progress continues.
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  Speaker 2: You know, here's my problem, Steve. And this just it
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: bothers me only because I am a conservative and I
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: do vote Republican and and yet. We have Republican leaders
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: across the state who are not loyal to their own party.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: In some cases, they're endorsing the independent candidate in the race.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: They're not backing the person who came out of the
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: primary victorious. And I just it it bothers me because
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: the Democrats are always they unify behind their candidate, except
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: in the case of Steve Cohen. But typically they unify
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: behind their their candidates. And we are not seeing that
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: happen in Tennessee, especially in this gubernatorial race.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Well, they put party ahead of principle party ahead of
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: America all the time. So I I appreciate the fact
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: that we have Republicans who will say, no, I'm putting
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: policy and principle ahead of just which team I'm on,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: which jersey I'm wearing. And frankly, I've been talking a
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: long time that if we want to have a unified party,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: we need to have runoff elections in Tennessee. When you
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: have someone who gets our nomination with only 43 percent
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: of the vote, that is not a strong endorsement by
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: the voters that this is our person to carry our banner.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: A lot of other states, you know, 43 percent doesn't
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: get you the nomination. It gets you into a runoff.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: And if Tennessee would have runoff elections, we would have
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: candidates moving forward who would have secured more than 50
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: percent of the Republican primary vote, or in some cases,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: as we see around the country, 60 or 70 percent
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: once people coalesce behind their number one nominee. And I
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: think that the fact that we don't have that in
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Tennessee is why, again, Bill Lee got elected. elected with
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: less than 50% of the primary vote. I think he
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: got like 35%. Marsha Blackburn got 43%. If we had
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: runoff elections, there'd be a stronger admonition and a stronger
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: support base from the primary to the general because we
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: would have a candidate who is our nominee who has
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: at least 50%, if not more, of Republican support.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Steve, tell me about David Hatley, because he is making
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: a major play in West Tennessee now, which is strong,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: made Marshall Blackburn country when it comes to the Republican vote.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: And that's who Hatley's going after. He's going after those
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Republican voters. He's about to launch a massive advertising campaign
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: here on KWAM. Does this guy have any shot at all,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: or are we looking at a spoiler here who could
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: give the governorship to Jerry Green?
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  Speaker 1: You know, I interviewed him just the other day, and
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: we're actually posting– portions of our conversations with candidates. We've
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: talked with, you know, a variety. We've talked with Brent Taylor.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: We've talked with, you know, a whole host of candidates
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: around the state. I interviewed David Hatley. I've interviewed Jerry Green.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: We're going to be posting that. And she's an avowed liberal.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: There's no question about that. David Hatley is a conservative Republican.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: The only reason he didn't run as a Republican is
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: because when he was 21 years old, he had a conviction,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: and that kept him from being able to qualify as
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: bona fide as a Republican. But you look at the issues,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: whether it's fiscal conservatism, whether you look at his faith-based
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: pro-life agenda, he is a conservative Republican in policy, if
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: not with the R-neck of his name. Now, the question is,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Can he bring with his advertising, and they're going to
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: be targeting not just Marsha Blackburn but also Jerry Green,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: to bring Green's numbers down, to bring Marsha's numbers down,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: and to continue to bring his numbers up? Whether or
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: not he can get to that 40, 43 percent of
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: the vote that I think is necessary to win the
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: governor's race in this election with a divided party and
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: a divided Republican versus Democrat base, that remains to be seen.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: They feel confident that they're in the mid-teens, that they
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: can spend money between now and November 3rd that will
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: outpace both what Marsha and Jerry Green will spend together.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: And they believe that the message that they're sending of,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: you know, that he's not taking PAC money, he's not
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: taking money from the folks who want to do business
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: with Tennessee, which we've seen too much corruption for too long.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: And I think that's a message that may be resonating.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: if he can get his name recognition and who he
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: is and also identify who his opponents are.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Do you think the Republicans are taking this for granted?
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: I just don't see the momentum on the Republican side. Or,
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: quite frankly, they need to be campaigning like they're 20
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: points behind.
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  Speaker 3: I agree.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that's not just Tennessee. That's all over
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: the country, Todd. And when we look, as you know,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: I do a lot of events around the state. the
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: turnout for Republican events over the last month or so
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: has been meager, has been, you know, half or two-thirds
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: of what they traditionally turn out. That's not a good sign.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: The Democrats do seem to be enthused. What is to
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: our advantage is they have picked the worst slew of
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: candidates all over the country, from Al Saeed, from Justin Pearson,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: who has sided himself with some of the most vile
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: and despicable characters that the Democrats have to put forward.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: The advantage for us is we've got good candidates. The
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: disadvantage for them is they have some of the worst
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: in history. But the danger to America is if we
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: don't do our job, those worst candidates in history gain power.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: I've got about 10 seconds here, Steve. National Taco Day,
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: are you a hard shell or soft shell guy?
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Both and regularly, not just on Taco Tuesday. I'm a
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: taco guy any day.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: Of the week.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: All right, Steve, that's a very political answer. Steve Gill,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: publisher of TriStar Daily. If you want your dose of
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: statewide politics, go check out tristardaily.com. Steve, always good to
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: hear from you, my friend.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Thanks, my friend. Talk to you soon.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: All right. Again, a lot going on in the world
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: of politics and tacos. By the way, where is your
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: favorite spot here in the Mid-South to grab a taco?
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Give us a call this morning, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Congressman
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: David Kostoff coming up next here on the Mighty 990.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: All right. Congratulations to our friends over at Huey's. And
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: who doesn't love a good burger from Huey's? They racked
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: up some big wins over the weekend. The Tennessee Hospitality
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: and Tourism Association holding their annual Stars of the Industry
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: Awards in Gatlinburg. And they came away. They came away.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Huey's came away with three honors, including a restaurant employee
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: of the year that went to Brian Davis. Also general
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: manager of the year going to Rico French Whittington and
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: also restaurateur of the year. So congratulations to our friends
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: at Huey's Burgers. Also, if you're in Germantown and you
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: notice the traffic is a little bit heavier this week, well,
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: there's a good reason for that. Germantown Baptist Church is
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: hosting a huge national conference of Christian counselors, and they're
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: at Germantown Baptist Church, the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: More than 2,300 participants representing 1,200 churches from around the
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: nation as well as 19 countries. So if you're driving
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: by and you see all the cars in the parking lot,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: that's what's going on at Germantown Baptist Church. As a
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: matter of fact, I'll be heading out this afternoon after
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: the national show to volunteer. I think I have dishwashing
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: duty in the church kitchen. I want to go right
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: away to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line, say hello to
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: a very busy congressman today, our congressman, David Kostoff. Good
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: to have you with us today.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: Hey, Todd, good morning. Thank you for having me.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Congressman, I was talking to Steve Gill just a few
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: moments ago. I don't think there's ever been this many
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: members of Congress in the Mid-South, but they are in town.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: You are leading a field hearing today for House Ways
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: and Means Committee. Tell us about what's going on.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks, Todd. Well, I tell you, so our Ways
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: and Means chairman is a great chairman, Jason Smith from
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: the Boot Heel of Missouri. He And one thing that
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: he's a believer in, which I agree with 100%, he
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: believes in having hearings in different parts of the country.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: So the witnesses who normally, Todd, would come to Washington, D.C.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: and come to the Capitol and have to testify, the
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: Ways and Means Committee goes to them. So over the
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: last several years, we've had a field hearing of the
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: Ways and Means Committee in a sawmill in West Virginia
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: on a In a farming operation in Minnesota, we did
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: have a pretty cool one at the Reagan Library last
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: summer at a sign factory in Nevada. We've been all over.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: And Chairman Smith came to me and said, I would
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: love to have a field hearing in the Memphis area.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: And it would probably be our last one before the
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: 2026 election. And we want to hear from witnesses about that.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: the One Big Beautiful Bill or the Working Families Tax
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: Cut Act, how it's benefited, and what, if anything, can
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: we do to modify, improve, what have you, and hear
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: real-world stories. So the committee is doing that later today,
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: this morning, in fact, in about an hour and a half,
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: in Collierville, in Orgel. And, Todd, for you and for
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: people who are listening, Orgel, which supplies hardware stores, local
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: hardware stores across the country, is Tennessee's oldest company. And
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: they're probably the first or second largest private company here
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: in the Memphis area. So we're excited to have that
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: field hearing this morning at Orgel at 9 a.m.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: It's really going to be exciting. And again, some of
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: the lawmakers in town, Carol Miller from West Virginia, Beth
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Van Dyne from Texas, Nicole Malliotakis from New York. Nathaniel
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: Moran from Texas. And I actually sat on the airplane
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: right next to Congressman Ron Estes from Kansas. We were
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: flying in on the connecting flight from Dallas last night, Congressman.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: I know he's pretty fired up, and he's excited to
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: be here in the Mid-South as well.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: He really is. By the way, as you mentioned, he
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: represents a district in Kansas. He grew up and graduated
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: high school in Union City, Tennessee, in O'Brien County. in
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: Northwest Tennessee and political country. So we're really glad to
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: have Ron and all these other members to experience Southern
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: hospitality like they've done the last day and a half, preparing,
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: getting ready for this hearing. And I really think, you know,
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: I mentioned we'll be at Orgel today, and we've got
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: the CEO of Orgel who is testifying, Boyden Moore. We've
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: also got Mike Miller, who owns Patrick's on Park Avenue.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, great restaurant.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: Really good restaurant and two other witnesses. And again, I'm
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: just looking forward to listening, learning how what we've worked
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: so hard on has a good, solid, practical, conservative benefit.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: And to me, in the end, this legislation, which is
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: the signature legislation, I believe, that the of the second
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: Trump administration is all about letting people keep their hard-earned
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: dollars in their own pockets.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Congressman David Kustoff joining us this morning on the Patriot
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Mobile Newsmaker line. Congressman, today, Memphis City Council, they're going
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: to be looking at these data centers, possibly imposing a
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: moratorium on them. The reality is those data centers are
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: going somewhere, and many of them are going to be
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: going right across the state line into DeSoto County and Mississippi,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: where they're going to get the windfall from those data
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: centers if the city decides to crack down here. What
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: are you hearing from your constituents? This is a hot-button issue,
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: and I think even a lot of Republicans are torn
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: on the data centers.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: So you've summed it up exactly right. It A couple
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: of things, you know, with these data centers, and they're
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: going in in different cities and different communities all across
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: the country. If you look at where SpaceX, XAI has
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: located these two data centers, first of all, I think
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Mayor Young, who has kind of struck the right balance,
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: I think, as it relates to data centers, he will
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: tell you that this year, Those two facilities are going
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: to produce over $ 20 million in property taxes for the
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: city of Memphis. And, Todd, that's money that just appeared.
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: Those were non-revenue-producing pieces of property, and now that's $ 20- plus
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: million to the city of Memphis Treasury. The second thing
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: that you pointed out is where those data centers are–
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: you mentioned Mississippi– They're also going to Arkansas, right across
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: the river. And so you do have communities. The governor
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: of Mississippi, Tate Reeves, is welcoming those opportunities because they
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: are producing revenue. The other thing that I think goes unmentioned–
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: and I'm just talking about Memphis and Shelby County and
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: the economic opportunities– is that with Elon and those facilities–
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: There are other businesses that are not data centers that
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: are thinking about and looking at locating to the Memphis area.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: And if they do, that will create not only more
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: property tax revenue but more jobs. And to me, that's
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: what it's all about. So there is a lot of concern,
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: and you're right. It's on both sides of the aisle.
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: But I think if you're a data center and you
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: can convince people that there's not going to be an
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: environmental impact and that they're going to take care of
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: their own water, which is something Elon has done, then
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: it's certainly good to have debate about it.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Congressman, I want to switch gears real quick and talk
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: about the midterm elections coming up and there's– I was
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: talking to a congressman who's in a safe district who
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: was lamenting the fact that even in his district, it's
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: going to be a tight race. He's expected to win,
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: but he is really concerned about Republicans winning nationwide. I'm
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: just stunned by this because I'm looking at the crowds
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: at the Trump rallies, and I think the enthusiasm is there.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's not being portrayed on the national media, but
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: I think you guys are doing pretty good. What's your
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: take on things? I mean, you're out there campaigning.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so, you know, look, it's all about people coming
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: out to vote, right? I mean, every vote matters. And
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: I think about somebody I'm sure you've interviewed before, Mary
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: Annette Miller-Meeks, who's a congresswoman from Iowa. A few years ago,
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: she literally got elected, Todd, by six votes, six. And
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: that demonstrates every vote's important. So I think it's important.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: for all the Republican senators and all the Republican congressmen,
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: everybody running, you've got to make sure, and this includes me,
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: that your voters actually come out and vote. And in Tennessee,
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: we make it very easy. We've got this two-plus-week period
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: of early voting. And as you know, in Shelby County,
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: you can vote from 11 in the morning until 7
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: at night or 8 at night. It's a... Good extended
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: hours with 20-something locations. But it's important for us to
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: talk about our wins legislatively. And I think one reason,
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: one big reason that people went to vote for Donald
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: Trump in 2024 was because they were looking at the
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: images that were coming from the southern border, literally hundreds
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: of thousands of people that were coming across the border unlawfully,
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: illegally every month, and they said, we've got to stop it.
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: And Trump said, if you elect me, I'm going to
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: close the border. Well, Todd, he did that. But people
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: move on. They move on to the next issue. So
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: we've got to remind people what President Trump has done
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: in these two years, what the Republican House and Senate
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: has done in these two years, i.e., the one big
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: beautiful bill, which you know, if you talk to small
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: business owners and others and retailers, they say, you know,
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: things are actually not bad. I know that people are
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: concerned about gas and groceries because we hear from a bit,
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: it's a little bit of a, it's a mixed bag,
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: but on the consumer side, the consumer is spending, which
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: tells you something. So we've got to go out there,
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: tell those stories. And most importantly, we've got to make
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: sure that our voters go out and vote.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: And there's no way we can allow someone as radical.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, Justin Pearson is a radical. And I'm very
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: concerned somebody like that getting elected to Congress.
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: Well, look, it's real. Just look at last year, where
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: the most capitalistic city in the entire world elected a
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: socialist to be their mayor, where New Yorkers elected Mondami.
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: So never say that it can't happen. This truly is
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: a battle between common sense versus crazy. That's it. And
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: you've got people running nationwide on the Democrat ticket that
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: are absolute socialists. Some of them may even be communists.
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: And if you want– you, plural, you, everybody– want to
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: protect our way of life, the way to do that
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: and our values is to go vote and go vote
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: for the right people.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: Congressman Boyle Ego, National Taco Day. Are you a soft-shell
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: guy or are you a hard-shell guy?
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: I'm a hard-shell guy.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Really? All right. I am. I kind of figured you'd
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: go with the soft-shell.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: Well, I like both, but if I had my choice,
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: I'd go hardship.
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: All right. Well, good stuff. Congressman, congratulations on this great
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: event happening in Collierville. Always fun to invite folks out
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: to the Mid-South, to the district. And we know that
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: the good people in Collierville, they're going to put on
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: a good show today.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you very much, Todd. We're honored to be
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: here and to do this and to have a United
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: States House of Representatives congressional hearing today. right here in
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: the Memphis-Shilby County area.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: That is a very rare thing, and it is happening
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: today in Collierville. Congressman David Kostoff on our Patriot Mobile
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: Newsmaker line today. As we go to break, mentioning it
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: is National Taco Day, a chance for you to win
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: a signed copy of my brand new book, called The
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: Golden Age, but you've got to answer this trivia question.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: There is a very famous Mexican restaurant that is not
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Taco Bell that was founded in West Memphis originally. This
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: particular Mexican restaurant, known for their world-famous cheese dip, can
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: you name the restaurant on this National Taco Day? Our
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: telephone number, 901-260-5926.
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: That's 901-260-5926.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: This is the Mighty 990 KWAM.
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: Oh, wow.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Going to be 88 degrees today. That's what Laura Huckabee says.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: By the way, the Mighty 990, the only news radio
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: station in Memphis with our very own exclusive meteorologist. Laura
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: will be along in just a moment with a complete
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: look at your forecast. By the way, there's a little
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: trouble brewing down in the Gulf of Mexico. Could be
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: impacting the Mid-South later on in the week. Laura is
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: keeping an eye on it. So, yeah, you go about
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: your business. Enjoy your weekend. We'll let you know if
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: you need to grab an umbrella or batten down the hatches. Also,
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: I want to share this. We just got this from
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: our friends over at the Shelby County Clerk's Office. And, man,
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: are they doing a good job in the post-Wanda Halbert era.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: They are closing early on Friday. And I want to
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: give you a heads up there. They're going to open
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: at 830 that morning. They're going to close at noon
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: for mandatory customer service training. I know many of you
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: are very happy to hear that news. They're going to
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: be closed for the rest of the day. That's coming
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: up on Friday. Online services, you're still going to be
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: able to have access to them. And then regular operating
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: hours resume on Monday. So just a heads up there
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: as you make your plans if you've got to go
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: over to get your tags or something. Again, our telephone number,
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: we'll share this in just a moment. We have a
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: trivia question on the table on this National Taco Day.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: This particular famous Memphis Mexican restaurant started in 1956 after
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: the family took a once-in-a-lifetime vacation to Mexico. They came
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: back home and they created this restaurant. They are known
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: around the world for their incredible cheese dip recipe. I
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: don't know how they do it. but it's believed to
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: be the very first queso dip in America, made right
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: here in Memphis. Can you name the restaurant? 901-260-5926 is
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. And if you get the
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: answer correctly, you're going to win a signed copy of
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: my brand-new book. It's called The Golden Age Restaurant. How
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: Trump Saved America. Well, coming up on our national show today,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: it's really good to be back behind the microphone. We've
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: got three hours of great conversation, great newsmakers that are
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: coming up later this afternoon. We're going to be taking
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: a look at the big midterm election. And folks, I've
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: just got to tell you, one of the things that
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: we've got to decide, and you heard Congressman Kustov describe it,
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: it's common sense versus crazy. And the other side is
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: just flat out slap crazy. I mean, it really is
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: that simple. So I understand that a lot of you
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: folks out there, you don't like Marshall Blackburn. I can't
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: figure that one out. But okay, great. So your solution
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: is to put a socialist in the governor's office. That's
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: your solution. It makes absolutely no sense to me. So
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: Be very careful when you're out there and you're campaigning
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: for these independent candidates, especially because that could end up
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: landing a Democrat in the governor's mansion. I mean, it
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: really is that simple. And all you folks staying at
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: home and not voting, you know what? You may as
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: well vote for the Democrat because that's what's going to happen.
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: All right, let's go to the phones real quick. Mark
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: in Memphis calling in for trivia. Mark, how's it going today?
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Hope you're having a good one.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Good, Todd. I'm glad to hear you back on the radio.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: Mark, I've got 10 seconds. What's the answer to trivia?
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: Honchos.
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: Honchos it is. Mark, hang tight. You have just won
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: a copy of my book. Folks, we've got to wrap
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: it up. It's been a great morning. We'll see you
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: tomorrow right here on the Mighty 990.